CHARACTER SKETCH

NAME JOSEPH JACKSON

NICKNAME JOE, SWAMP RAT (LEE USED THAT ONE FOR HIM ON OCCASION)

APPEARANCE UNLESS HE’S ON DUTY, NOT TO CONCERNED ABOUT IT.

HAIR –STYLE-COLOR-TYPE-TEXTURE DARK BROWN, SLIGHTLY RECEDING HAIRLINE

EYES –GLASSES-CONTACTS-BROWN

WEIGHT UNKNOWN

COLORING REDDISH SKIN TONES

HEIGHT ABOUT 5’9”

BUILD STURDY

FACIAL FEATURES –LIPS, EYEBROWS, LASHES, JAW LINE, NOSE

NOTHING UNIQUE THAT I CAN SEE.

VOICE –ACCENT – WAY OF TALKING NO ACCENT THAT I CAN TELL.

FAMILY UNKNOWN. I REALLY SHOULD CHECK ON THIS, AND SPEND SOME TIME WITH HIM, FOR LEE’S SAKE.

CONNECTION TO ME WAS ADMIRAL JIGG’S STARKE’S AIDE BEFORE JIGGS RETIRED. STILL ASSIGNED TO COMSUBPAC, WITH A PROMOTION TO FULL COMMANDER BUT NOW WORKS AS ONE OF THE OPERATIONS OFFICERS.

HE AND LEE WERE CLOSER THAN MOST BROTHERS. THERE WAS AN INSTANCE I REMEMBER WHEN JACKSON WAS BELIEVED TO HAVE DIED AND LEE WAS DEVESTATED.

BEST FRIENDS/ENEMIES CONGENIAL NAVAL OFFICERS

ETHNIC/CULTURAL BACKGROUND NORTHERN EUROPEAN

SCHOOLING BROWN UNIVERSITY, NAVY R.O.T.C .

OCUPATIONS PRESENT-PREVIOUS US. NAVAL OFFICER, ASSIGNED TO COMSUBPAC AS ONE OF OPERATIONS OFFICERS NOW, ALSO ONI FIELD AGENT (ON A LIMITED BASIS).

HOBBIES OFTEN HELPED LEE WITH HIS SAILBOATS AND CHARITY ORGANIZATIONS AS ‘UNCLE JOE’.

POLITICAL PREFERENCES UNKNOWN

LIKES DRIVING FAST. JIGGS REFUSES TO GET IN THE SAME CAR WITH HIM JACKSON’S DRIVING.(EVEN THOUGH JACKSON HAS ‘SAFE DRIVER’ ON HIS LICENSE.

DISLIKES INEQUALITY OF EDUCATION ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

MOVIES/BOOKS/PLAYS JAMES BOND, SHERLOCK HOLMES (ORIGINAL CLASSIC FILM VERSIONS)

FOODS ESPECIALLY FOND OF FRIED RATTLESNAKE THOUGH HE SAID IT WAS AN AQUIRED TASTE THAT LEE HAD TALKED HIM INTO TRYING.

SPORTS WAS ON BROWN’S FOOTBALL TEAM. ENJOYS RUNNING. COMPLETED SOME HALF MARATHONS. GOAL IS TO ONE DAY ENTER, COMPLETE, AND FINISH IN THE TOP TEN OF THE BOSTON MARATHON. IN FACT, HE AND LEE HAD HOPED TO RUN TOGETHER FOR THAT, BUT TIME AND DISTANCE BETWEEN HOME PORTS MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE.

FEARS/PHOBIAS HATES RATS. WHEN HE WAS ABOARD SEAVIEW WITH JIGGS STARKE FOR AN INSPECTION, LEE PUT ONE OF MY LAB RATS INTO HIS BUNK.

JACKSON RAN AFTER LEE ALL THE WAY TO THE CONTROL ROOM, ALL THE WHILE, THREATENING TO KILL HIM, BUT LEE SIMPLY BLEW A RASPBERRY AT HIM AND LEANED AGAINST THE PERISOPE ISLAND WITH HIS ARMS CROSSED, GRINNING. IT HE CERTAINLY PROVED THAT RANK HAD ITS’ PRIVILEGES.

NO NEED TO SAY THAT WHEN I HEARD ABOUT THE ALTERCATION THE NEXT MORNING, I WAS PLEASANTLY SURPRIZED THAT LEE HADN’T ENDED UP WITH A BASHED IN HEAD. I GUESS JACKSON DECIDED THAT DOING SEAVIEW’S SKIPPER BODILY HARM FOR REAL WAS NOT A GOOD IDEA. AFTER ALL, HE WASN’T PARTIAL TO THE IDEA OF BEING FLUNG OVERBOARD BY LEE’S CREW.

LATER, STARKE COMPLAINED TO ME (IN CONFIDENCE) THAT HE’D OVERHEARD THE TWO LAUGHING ABOUT HOW MUCH THEY WISHED LEE HAD TRIED IT WITH HIM!

WE NEVER FOUND THE RAT WHICH HAD ESCAPED TO PARTS UKNOWN.

TO APPEASE ME FOR THE LOSS OF A RESEARCH SUBJECT, LEE WENT ASHORE AT CANNES ON A ‘SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT’, AND RETURNED WITH A REPLACEMENT RODENT.

I HAD A DIFFICULT TIME EXPLAINING THAT WHILE HAMSTERS ARE USED FOR SOME RESEARCH, IT WAS A USELESS SPECIES FOR MINE.

SO LEE SET ‘HAMMIE’ UP, AS THE HAMSTER BECAME KNOWN, IN HIS OWN CABIN, ‘BORROWING’ A MODERATE CAGE FROM THE LAB, WATER BOTTLE, AND SAWDUST BEDDING. BUT ‘HAMMIE’ SPENT MOST OF HIS TIME IN LEE’S SHIRT POCKET.

YES, LEE ENJOYED TORMENTING JACKSON WITH THE POCKET’S OCCUPANT, THAT IS, UNTIL ‘HAMMIE’ STARTED TO POOP IN LEE’S POCKET (INEVITABLE).

WHILE LEE CHANGED IN HIS CABIN, JACKSON DECIDED TO FACE HIS FEAR AND PICKED ‘HAMMIE’ UP OUT OF THE CAGE. BUT JUST AS JOE WAS STARTING TO BREATHE NORMALLY AGAIN, IT BIT HIM. STARTLED, JOE’S REFLEX ACTION PROPELLED THE RODENT UP AND OUT OF LEE’S CABIN.

WHILE LEE PUNCHED THE KLAXTON AND ORGANIZED A SEARCH PARTY, JACKSON SPENT THE REST OF THE DAY IN SICKBAY, BAND AID ON HIS FINGER, EVEN THOUGH DOC ASSURED HIM THAT DOMESTICATED HAMSTERS RARELY HAVE RABIES, AND TESTED HIS BLOOD JUST IN CASE, UNTIL LEE SHOWED HIM THE HEALTH CERTIFICATE FROM THE PET STORE, HE WOULDN’T BUDGE FOR FEAR OF MAKING ‘HAMMIE’S’ AQUAINTANCE UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL AGAIN.

I THINK IT WAS THE ONLY TIME JACKSON WAS ACTUALLY RELIVEVED TO TAKE HIS LEAVE OF CRANE EARLY AS JIGGS HAD JUST RECEIVED A CALL FOR HIM TO RETURN TO COMSUBPAC ASAP. I HAVE A SNEAKY FEELING JOE AND LEE WERE BEHIND THE ‘RETURN TO BASE’ MESSAGE THOUGH. ( JOE TO ESCAPE TWO RODENTS ON THE LOOSE, AND LEE TO HELP HIS HYPERVENTILATING FRIEND AND GET RID OF ADMIRAL STARKE’S INTERFERENCE WITH THE RUNNING OF HIS BOAT AT THE SAME TIME.)

THEN IT HAPPENED. JUST AFTER JIGGS HAD RETURNED TO HIS CABIN HE EMITTED GOD AWFUL YELP OVER THE INTERCOM DEMANDING CRANE AND JACKSON TO GET THEIR BUTTS TO HIS CABIN ON THE DOUBLE. (OF COURSE, EVEN I WAS INTERESTED NOW)

THERE ATOP THE PAPERS IN HIS BRIEFCASE, ‘HAMMIE’ WAS BUSILY NURSING HER NEWBORN PUPS. (YES, THAT’S WHAT THEY’RE CALLED.) NEEDLESS TO SAY, ALL OF HIS REPORTS WERE A MESS FROM THE BIRTH PROCESS, SO WAS THE BRIEFCASE. (LIKE MOST GOVERNMENT ISSUE IT WAS A RATHER CHEAP MODEL.)

WITH PROFUSE APPOLGIES AND THE PROMISE TO ‘CLEAN UP THE MESS’, RE TYPE UP THE REPORTS AND PURCHASE A NEW BRIEFCASE FOR HIM BY LEE, JIGGS LEFT SEAVIEW, JACKSON IN TOW, SOMEWHAT MOLLIFIED. BUT I COULD HAVE SWORN I SAW JACKSON WINK AT LEE.

LATER LEE ASKED ME IF I’D KNOWN THAT ‘HAMMIE’ WAS A GIRL AND THAT SHE WAS PREGNANT. OF COURSE I HAD NO IDEA. I’D NEVER PICKED IT UP. I WAS SURPRISED THOUGH, THAT LEE COULDN’T TELL FROM HANDLING IT THAT THOSE BUMPS HAD HAD TO MEAN SOMETHING.

WELL, A SINGLE MOTHER ABOARD SEAVIEW WOULD POSE DIFFICULTIES, OR SO LEE CONVINCED MISS HALE, AND PLEADED WITH HER TO TAKE ‘HAMMIE’ AND HER PUPS. AFTER ALL, HE ADDED, IT WAS A LONG WAY BACK TO THE PET SHOP IN FRANCE.

QUIRKS UNKNOWN

CHARACTER FLAWS UNKNOWN

FAVORITE EXPRESSIONS/ TYPICAL GESTURES UNKNOWN. (I ONLY SOCIALIZED WITH HIM BRIEFLY AND USUALLY ONLY WITH LEE)

CHILDHOOD/TEEN MEMORY NONE

ROLE MODEL GOOD EXAMPLE OF DUTIFUL NAVAL OFFICER

TEN WORDS TO SUM UP WHAT I THINK OF THIS PERSON

FINE NAVAL OFFICER, AND LOYAL FRIEND OF LEE’S.

TEN WORDS HOW THIS PERSON AFFECTED MY LIFE

AGREED WITH ME THAT HE TOO DISLIKED LEE TAKING ON SO MANY SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS WITH O.N.I., HIS FRIENDSHIP MEANT A GREAT DEAL TO LEE, SO HE SHOULD MEAN A GREAT DEAL TO ME TOO.

WHAT I’D SAY TO THIS PERSON IF WE MET TODAY.

I JUST HEARD THE NAVY NEEDS A RAT INSPECTOR. HOW ABOUT IT?(JUST KIDDING)

WHAT I WISH I HADN’T SAID /DONE TO THIS PERSON

‘YOU DON’T SEEM TO BE TAKING LEE’S DEATH AS HARD AS HE TOOK YOURS’.

(WE ALL GRIEVE IN DIFFERENT WAYS, BUT I COULDN’T UNDERSAND AT THE TIME WHY WE WASN’T BAWLING HIS EYES OUT LIKE ME)